Eastern Oklahoma Catholic Jan/Feb 2009 : Page 16

c o v e r s t o r y T Dr. Phyllis Lauinger consults with a patient in a crowded hallway of the Xavier Medical Clinic. ony is a great- grandson of Patrick C. Boyle, who in 1910 bought the Oil Investors Journal in Beaumont, Texas. He changed the name to the Oil and Gas Journal and moved to Tulsa. Frank T. Lauinger (Tony’s grandfather) was involved in the business, and P.C. Lauinger, (Tony’s dad) began to operate the company in 1931. Anthony Lauinger, one of Phil and Fran Biolchini Lauinger’s seven children, was born in Tulsa in 1944. Phyllis was Tony Lauinger takes a phone call in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. born in the Bronx, N.Y., where she attended Catholic school and was educated by four different orders of sisters through her graduation in 1968 from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. She received her medical degree in 1972 from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. But the fall before she graduated, mutual friends introduced her to a young man from Tulsa, who then was at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. That meeting came in September 1971; they married in May 1972 and moved to Tulsa. Phyllis recalls no culture shock involved in the cross-country move; “Hospitals are similar everywhere.” Adds her husband, “Phyllis took a leap of faith. But she was so busy she didn’t know if she was o v e r s t o r y T Dr. Phyllis Lauinger consults with a patient in a crowded hallway of the Xavier Medical Clinic. ony is a great- grandson of Patrick C. Boyle, who in 1910 bought the Oil Investors Journal in Beaumont, Texas. He changed the name to the Oil and Gas Journal and moved to Tulsa. Frank T. Lauinger (Tony’s grandfather) was involved in the business, and P.C. Lauinger, (Tony’s dad) began to operate the company in 1931. Anthony Lauinger, one of Phil and Fran Biolchini Lauinger’s seven children, was born in Tulsa in 1944. Phyllis was Tony Lauinger takes a phone call in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. born in the Bronx, N.Y., where she attended Catholic school and was educated by four different orders of sisters through her graduation in 1968 from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. She received her medical degree in 1972 from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. But the fall before she graduated, mutual friends introduced her to a young man from Tulsa, who then was at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. That meeting came in September 1971; they married in May 1972 and moved to Tulsa. Phyllis recalls no culture shock involved in the cross-country move; “Hospitals are similar everywhere.” Adds her husband, “Phyllis took a leap of faith. But she was so busy she didn’t know if she was on on the east side or the west side of the Mississippi, let alone the Hudson.” Before long, the Lauingers welcomed their first child, Elizabeth. A couple of years later came Michael, then Molly, Katie, Billy, Anne, Chrissy and John, their baby, who now is a senior at Notre Dame. Between the birth of their ‘‘ ,, Tony’s unrelenting tenacity, tireless and selflessness dedication to the cause of life all have ensured that countless children are alive today. first and second children came an event that would change their lives forever: the Roe v. Wade decision in January 1973 legalizing abortion. “I just viewed it as such an outrageous affront to human life, and I felt an overriding obligation to work to reverse Roe v. Wade,” Tony recalls. Tulsans for Life soon was formed, with some of the earliest organizational meetings taking place in the Lauingers’ home. Tony had gone to work in the family business, which had grown into the highly regarded PennWell Publishing Co. “By 1977, I just felt the business world was not where I belonged.” In 1978, he began his efforts to convince state lawmakers to whittle away at Roe v. Wade within whatever means was available to a state. “In the first year or two, the Oklahoma Legislature was a blank slate; it was heavily Democratic but open to considering pro-life issues. It was kind of a fair fight in 1978, 1979, 1980.” But in 1980, and from that point on, “it was a tougher fight.” The Democrats had taken over the Legislature, which allowed its